A wonderful subject for me as lived in the cityof Versailles by the Notre Dame Church for 9+ years before moving on to the Morbihan breton. Versailles will always be in our hearts, it was our first owned home in France! Go ahead and see the City ,but do not miss the palace/museum for anything as the Domaine of Versailles is awesome ! I found me newer pictures in my cd rom vault of my last trip there and they should be in my blog for you and me, Therefore, let me tell you about the appartement de la Reine Marie Antoinette of the Château de Versailles !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
Upon Madame Sophie’s death in 1782, Marie-Antoinette reclaimed her three-room apartment on the ground floor of the château, overlooking the Cour de Marbre or Marble Courtyard, soon to be known as the Petit Appartement de la Reine or the Queen’s Small Apartment. As the months passed, the Queen slept less and less on the main floor in the bedroom of her Grand Apartment. She could reach it from her apartments on the first floor by taking the l’escalier des porteurs d’eau or water carriers’ staircase. In 1784, the bedroom was quickly converted into the location of Madame Sophie’s bathroom. A first fireplace was installed. Made of red marble and with two columns protruding from the building, it was sent to the Garde-Meuble in 1788. Today, it is installed, as an equivalent, in the Chambre de l’Appartement du Capitaine des Gardes or the bedroom of the Apartment of the Captain of the Guards. In 1788, a new fireplace was installed. Made of gray marble, covered with acanthus leaves covering the top of the jambs. We find it today in the Salle du Billard or Billiard Room, in the appartements de la Reine, à l’Attique or Queen’s apartments, in the Attic. Finally, a final fireplace was ordered and installed on the eve of the French revolution. In red griotte marble, decorated with gilded bronze rods and enriched with return panels. The fireplace mantel is a rectangular slab of the same marble, framed in white marble. It was returned to its place in the 1970s during the restoration of the ground floor spaces.
Located on the ground floor of the central northern interior body of the Château, between the cour de marbre or marble courtyard and the appartements de Mesdames, l’appartement du Capitaine des Gardes or the Captain of the Guards’ apartment holds a strategic position within the Château, surrounded by the guardroom, the King’s staircase and below the King’s private apartments. The apartment now consists of four rooms: an antechamber, a large living room, a bedroom and an interior living room, in which are exhibited paintings illustrating the major events and important figures of the reign of Louis XVI. The antechamber of the apartment commemorates the accession of Louis XVI to the throne, whose portrait in royal robes painted by Joseph Siffrède Duplessis is surrounded by those of his brothers, the Count of Provence and the Count of Artois, painted by François Hubert Drouais, and his cousin the Duke of Orléans, painted by Antoine Callet. They are also depicted in Gabriel François Doyen’s large painting of Louis XVI receiving homage from the knights of the order as their grand master, on June 13, 1775. The duties of Captain of the Guards included four incumbents, who succeeded each other in service “by quarter”. The Captain of the Guards on duty therefore lived in this apartment located near the small guard room and the King’s staircase.
Continuing from the apartment of the Captain of the Guards, towards the Lower Gallery, is part of the Queen’s private apartment. This was installed in 1784 for Marie-Antoinette on the site of part of the former apartment of Madame Sophie, who died in 1782. Three main rooms and several secondary rooms were fitted out there . When the Queen left her state apartment located on the first floor, she took the King’s Passage and a small staircase leading to the north bay of the marble vestibule of the Lower Gallery. This vestibule, which dated 1679, had been partitioned at the request of Madame Sophie, to enlarge her apartment. Thus, two new rooms had been created near the princess’s bathroom: a tower room and a library, whose walls were covered with stucco painted with landscapes and ornamental foliage framed in imitation marble. Fifteen years later, this room became the heart of Queen Marie Antoinette’s private apartment; it was demolished in the 19C, and it has not been possible to restore it fully but,,,First, two nightstands were made and recorded in the Garde-Meuble journal on December 31, 1783. Several orders for cabinetwork followed those for the nightstand. At the beginning of 1784, a “campaign” dressing table, a chest of drawers, a writing desk, and a mahogany corner cabinet were ordered and made for the Queen’s Garde-Meuble. A number of pieces from this furniture collection have already returned to Versailles since 1977, including a first bedside table, acquired at public auction in 2011. The dressing table was acquired in 1990, and in 2011, a first bedside table was acquired at public auction. The chest of drawers, still in a private collection, was replaced by a copy made by the cabinetmaker Guillaume Benneman in 1787 for the Château de Saint-Cloud. It remains to identify the corner cabinet, which has not reappeared since the revolutionary sales. The acquisition of the bedside table therefore represents an important step in the refurnishing of the Queen’s small apartment at Versailles.
The petit appartement de la reine or the Queen’s small apartment is a group of rooms on three floors, located in the second floor central part of the château. These rooms, located behind the Queen’s Grand Appartement, are lit by two interior courtyards. They were the private domain of the queens of France, Marie-Thérèse, Marie Leszczynska, and Marie-Antoinette, as well as those of the Duchess of Burgundy as Dauphine. The Queen’s Rooms were decorated with Toiles de Jouy, such as the Toile au Grand Ananas, one of the most beautiful works of the Manufacture de Jouy in the 18C. The other rooms, with their very sober decor, now house part of the museum’s collections relating to Marie-Antoinette, each evoking a moment in the sovereign’s life. The rooms were restored to their last original state when Marie-Antoinette left them on October 6, 1789. The Queen also had interior rooms on the second floor. They include a dining room and a boudoir and a billiard room. Marie-Antoinette’s Billiard Room was restored in 1994. It is adorned with the most precious fabric: a brocaded lampas in velvet and nude silk on a white chenille background. The design is an interlacing of garlands of flowers and leaves forming rinceaux that surround medallions with six different motifs. This fabric, designed by Jacques Gondouin, was originally woven in 1779 for the winter furniture of Marie-Antoinette’s inner cabinet at Versailles and reused in the billiard room when the former’s inner cabinet became the Golden Cabinet. In the other rooms are displayed portraits of members of the royal family and their entourage. Among them is the large painting by Martin Van Meytens of the Austrian Emperor Franz I, Maria Theresa and their children, painted in 1755, the year of Marie-Antoinette’s birth.
The Château de Versailles on the appartement du Capitaine des Gardes : https://www.chateauversailles.fr/appartement-capitaine-gardes
The Château de Versailles on the cabinet du billard : https://www.chateauversailles.fr/decouvrir/domaine/chateau/les-cabinets-interieurs-marie-antoinette#le-cabinet-du-billard-et-les-pieces-a-la-reine
The Château de Versailles on the chambre de la Reine Marie Antoinette: https://www.chateauversailles.fr/presse/collections/retour-versailles-trois-meubles-chambre-marie-antoinette#un-ecran-de-cheminee-livre-pour-marie-antoinette-a-versailles
There you go folks, a magnificent palace that all should see in your lifetime at least once, The history of France is here,and the architecture not the least , a masterpiece for the whole world to see. We shall be back eventually to my former City of glorious memories for my family, Again, hope you enjoy the post on the appartement de la Reine of the Château de Versailles !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 